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Directory sync error blames your connection when the serving Mac is down #608
Description
When the Mac serving the team's directory is down, everyone else's Settings → Team blames their own setup: "Check the URL and your connection."
What was seen
With B's helper stopped (B serves the directory), A's Directory row read in red: "Sync failed at 1:31:45 PM: Could not reach http://100.119.196.79:4142/directory. Check the URL and your connection." People on the same page already showed "samechocolixir · nate16-1 · Offline". A: "Settings blames my side… It doesn't say that Sam's Mac, which hosts the directory, is down."
Also, the served directory's URL is a raw tailnet IP over http (http://100.119.196.79:4142/directory), not the Mac's ts.net name shown under Host, so the URL doesn't show whose Mac serves it.
Steps
- Mac B serves the directory; A has joined it.
- Stop Ace Helper on B.
- On A, open Settings → Team.
Expected: "nate16-1, which serves the directory, is offline. Its channels stay listed as they were." Code: apps/host/src/directory.ts:107 and :214.
Map: ^112.
Found in the 2026-10-22 two-Mac pair study.
Activity
[-]A teammate's offline channel hides its history and disables Send without a reason[/-][+]Directory sync error blames your connection when the serving Mac is down[/+]iamnbutler commentedon Oct 22, 2026
Seen again on Canary 0.0.53.88 (2026-10-22 pair missions), with a new wording: after the serving Mac stopped serving (Settings → Team → Stop serving…, helper still up), the teammate's Settings read "Sync failed at 3:44:05 PM: The directory refused (HTTP 404): This host serves no directory. Check the URL." It doesn't say the teammate stopped it, and "Check the URL" points at the reader. Settings → Team still shows only the IP (
http://100.119.196.79:4142/directory), not the Mac. Map: ^112.